630 
N T ROD U C TOR Y ADDRESS. 
ignorant of. One is guided by precise and fixed laws, while 
the proceedings of the other are as erratic as a wandering 
star. Closely allied to anatomy is the external conformation 
of animals as indicative or otherwise of their capabilities to 
undergo exertion, withstand the ordinary causes of disease, 
or quickly accumulate flesh and fat from relatively a small 
quantity of food. 
The anatomist knows full well that external conformation 
is but the index of internal development ; that a capacious 
chest, for example, must contain large lungs and heart. 
Very much of the contour of animals, and consequently very 
much of their health and utility, has been for wise purposes 
placed within the sphere of man’s power to operate upon. 
Hence has arisen the science and the practice of breeding 
for the improvement of form, an investigation of the prin- 
ciples of which is to be regarded as a collateral branch of 
our art. Englishmen have gained for themselves a proud 
position and a lasting reputation for their indomitable per- 
severance in the cultivation of this science. Our country has 
thus become the world’s emporium, and British animals find 
their way to every corner of the globe, supplanting not only 
the aboriginal, but all the cultivated breeds. The prices ob- 
tained sound to uninitiated ears more like fiction than fact, 
and that even for animals intended to be used for stock pur- 
poses among ourselves at home. Time would not suffice, 
nor is this occasion suited, for a discussion of the law of re- 
production in all its varied phases, enough to say that it 
essentially “ consists of the transmission of physical and 
mental qualities from parents to their offspring.” Many 
extern circumstances tend to modify this law, and some of 
these appear at times to be so conflicting in their operation, 
that men of equal eminence in the art of breeding attach to 
them the very opposite effects. Notwithstanding our ad- 
vances then, there is still much left for future research, in 
further elucidation of this subject. 
I pass on to speak of another element of veterinary medicine, 
namely, Physiology, “ the science which treats of the properties 
of organic bodies, of the phenomena they present, and of the 
laws which govern their actions.” As we may anticipate, 
there is much room for speculation here, and although the 
functions of some parts are placed beyond disputation, those 
of others admit of different explanations, and our ablest 
minds, are therefore ever intent on the investigation of the 
modus ojperandi of organs with a view to its correct solution. 
This has led to the performance of many experiments on the 
living body, some of which have partaken of much cruelty, 
